


A multipurpose trip

by SrebrnaFH



Series: Double Pride Double Trouble - series [8]
Category: Das doppelte Lottchen | Lottie and Lisa - Erich Kästner, Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: Amsterdam, Baking - mention, Cuddling, Delft - Freeform, Family Fluff, Family Trip, Ferry, Heartbreak, Homesickness - mention, Retail Therapy, Rotterdam, Shopping, Sightseeing, Slice of Life, Speech Disorders - mention, The Netherlands, moving abroad, studying abroad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:47:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25007203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SrebrnaFH/pseuds/SrebrnaFH
Summary: William decides to take Rose and her things to Amsterdam by himself - and take Mina with, to distract her.Another oneshot for my DPDT universe.
Relationships: Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy, OC - Rose Darcy & OC - Mina Bennet
Series: Double Pride Double Trouble - series [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1273559
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	A multipurpose trip

**Author's Note:**

> Action time: second half of August and first week of September 2022.

####

William pushed his glasses up his nose and frowned at the screen.

"Rose! Rose, what is the date from when you can start— what is this?"

Rose was holding a stack of papers, with little yellow notes sticking out of them.

"Mina reviewed my packing list and my task list and— I'm kind of scared of her now."

"She needs stuff to do," he sighed. "She's been checking the foundation records three years back for any kind of mistakes. Stacy asked me already— Anyway. Do you need help with these?"

"Nah, just one detail — I'll need an account in a bank in Netherlands, so that I can pay for my rent—"

He tapped his lip with a pen.

"Let's make an appointment with the branch we have our private accounts in? And we check what they suggest, since I'm sure they have a subsidiary in the Netherlands."

"And it should be OK?" Rose frowned. "I mean, I'll have no income—"

"Just like every other student. We'll set up one of my family Euro accounts to transfer a monthly allowance, that's all. What— You, young lady, will not be expected to find a job in Amsterdam. In fact, if you check your student visa, it's most probably listed as big no-no."

"But will this be enough?"

"If not, we'll set up a subaccount for you from the Euro one and get you a card for that," he shrugged. "Might not be a sustainable solution in the long run, but foreign students have to eat, too. And even if everyone else there is from Euro zone _and_ allowed to take part-time jobs, they will have money from their parents, too."

"Thank you, Dad. I mean— I'm not sure what I meant. But. Now I just need to make sure I'm all packed and book some reasonable ticket—"

"Actually, no. I'm driving you."

A frown.

A headshake.

"What?"

"I'm taking you and Mina for a little trip. She had never been to the Netherlands, and she needs to take her mind off— stuff. Mom has to stay home so that Alex has all his therapy appointments done, but we can take five days and get you comfortably to Amsterdam. In style. And with all the luggage you need."

"B-but—"

"Your flat will be available from—" he peeked at her schedule, "the fourth of September. Perfect. We'll take a ferry to Rotterdam on the thirtieth, get rooms at a nice hotel in Amsterdam, do some sightseeing, drop your stuff at the flat, help you move it where you need it and then I'll get Mina back home by Wednesday morning. Her classes only start three weeks later, so she can safely come with us. Georgiana and Lucy will be back for your farewell party, and they will stay with Mom, so she can have some time off from Alex and maybe a chance to work, well, unless she wants to come with us— It should all work out OK."

####

It did, surprisingly.

The ferry took off at half past eight in the evening, so they were in Hull at seven and managed to get thoroughly bored by waiting in the passport control queue. Once boarded, they found their cabin, dropped off their hand luggage and ate dinner in a sweet little restaurant. William did not spare on accommodations, considering he was probably taller than any standard passenger the ferry expected to carry, so he took a large cabin, planting himself on one of the double beds (sleeping in diagonal) and the girls cuddled on the other, watching the darkness of the sea from the large window.

"I see some light," one of them whispered.

"Maybe another ferry?"

"Or a lighthouse."

"Or the Flying Dutchman."

"You will have a lot of Dutchmen on the ground there."

OK, so that was Mina.

It was crazy how similar they sounded.

"I'll be mostly dealing with the ground itself, and whatever is in it and under it and—"

They fell into nearly inaudible whispers.

####

The morning in Rotterdam was a bit windy and definitely smelled of a port. And it wasn't even in actual Rotterdam, since the navigation app showed that they'd be in the city centre in no less than half an hour.

"Well, not like I haven't been here before. Calling this 'a ferry to Rotterdam' is a bit of a stretch. Come on, ladies, everything picked up? Do you want to eat here, or in the city?"

The only pub they found was packed, so they quickly decided that the ferry breakfast had been enough and they were on their way.

"We have a whole day and the distance to Amsterdam is about a hundred and ten kilometres, so, now, choices," he turned to them as they waited on a red light. "We can spend an hour or two to see Rotterdam, and then we either go straight north, towards the Hague, and stop in Delft, or we go north-east and go through Gouda."

The girls glanced at each other and Rose nodded.

"Delft," said Mina.

"Delft it is. But first, Rotterdam. I've never been here to see the city, only when we were waiting for our ferry, coming back from our Aunt-Jane-organised trip. And that was just a few hours, and in January, so—"

"Can we go see Miniworld?"

"Book the tickets, my dear."

####

The Vermeer museum in Delft was maybe a bit subdued, but Mina looked enchanted with the "View of Delft" and both girls had indulged a bit in the museum shop, while he had a coffee, watching them browse for some special treasure. Finally Mina had bought four different picture tiles and several small trinkets, while Rose had a small collection of fridge magnets and stationery.

They made a short break for a lunch and sightseeing in the Hague and continued slowly, since the whole distance to Amsterdam was no more than 80 km now, and they still had half a day to kill.

"What do you want to do on the way?"

"Just— can we drive slowly and kind of see the country?" Rose suggested. "I mean— Just to see what stuff looks like."

"Not too slowly, but I suppose we can. Mina? Any requests?"

His younger daughter jerked out of her _uffish thoughts_ and looked around.

"Let's maybe find a place to park and stretch our legs?" she proposed weakly.

There were enough spots to do just that, even though on the distance of a hundred miles they would not have gotten bored or stiff. But that was the idea, after all - to get both of them to relax a bit, especially Mina.

####

_Rose sneaked into his study and closed the door behind herself with a sigh._

_"What is—?"_

_"Mina," she groaned. "She's going full mother hen. Lists of things to pack. Lists of things I can buy locally. Lists of basic groceries to make sure I can always cook a fresh meal. Dad—!"_

_"She's working through her stress this way?"_

_"Yes, but it's stressing **me** out. She's trying to make me repack everything for better efficiency!"_

_"Tell her repacking other people's stuff was Aunt Catherine's signature move? No, bad idea. Better. You go downstairs, help Georgiana with the dinner, and I will take Mina out for a little walk to the mansion. We need to oversee what's going on with the main steps, and I definitely need her opinion on the way the work is scheduled—"_

_He was doing that a lot. Not only because it took Mina's mind off the whole Teddy debacle, but because he honestly needed her input. In fact, she was becoming more and more an indispensable element of the whole team working on Pemberley restoration._

_Even in the previous year, when she was still in school, her Teddy-free afternoons turned into afternoons spent at the main house, with her getting more and more involved in all the work done. And the workers quite liked her being there. She was their "one phonecall away from the boss", sometimes wielding more power than the estate manager, since she had no compunction to call her father and ask for approval or money or change of plans, if she decided it was reasonable._

_In vast majority of cases, it was._

_There were some that saw the presence of a "Darcy kid" in the working site as annoyance or as an occasion to get some undue advantages and tried to manipulate Mina into accepting their shoddy work or getting them paid before their tasks were correctly signed off, but that didn't work out so well for them. For one, even their fellow workers called them out on it (or reported it to William) and secondly, Mina was getting progressively better at spotting these attempts. She wouldn't necessarily tell them directly they'd been found out, but he saw her notes on the relevant documents, informing him of there being a problem with this or that being finished._

_He took this all into account and weeded out the ones that tried, one by one. Why subject Mina, himself and the house, to the risk of someone's laziness and irresponsibility?_

_Which brought them to the point at which he could effectively distract Mina from obsessing about Teddy or about Rose's leaving by the simple expedient of finding her a task to perform at the main house. And he had quite a few of these queued up, kept stashed for later, since he hadn't wanted to infringe on these last days the twins would have together._

_But if Mina's hovering was getting on Rose's nerves that much, it was time to pull up a few of them and get his younger girl just busy enough not to drive her older sister mad._

####

There was a cafe on the side of the road where they stopped for a coffee for William and Rose, chocolate for Mina and a handful— well, more than just a handful of stroopwafels.

"How do you recon they make them?" he asked, picking up his biscuit from where it was resting over his coffee cup.

"I'd have to check—" Mina cautiously bit into hers. "Yum. Definitely— Yum. I'll have to check this. Mom would— Mmm, really good. Really, really good."

"These are with honey," Rose waved one from the other plate under their noses. "Wonder if Mom will consider making a stall for the fair this—"

He saw the moment it hit her.

Yeah, kiddo. You won't be around for the Christmas Market this year.

And it would be the first year for Mina not to sing on the competition — or the concert — at the Market or at school—

And he saw that moment, too.

Because how could Mina sing any carol without thinking about Teddy?

It had been hard enough when they couldn't sing _together_ the year prior, since Teddy arrived home only on the eighteenth, just in time to hear her sing with Lucy and Georgiana at the school. She had been moping around the house then, giving up on the competition and only helping her aunts with the choir and the nativity performance, but this year— He was already afraid of this year. It would be disastrous.

_Maybe Lucy could ask her to help with the youngest choir? Or— Well, I'll have to discuss this with Elizabeth, I suppose._

"I'm sure we can work on this. Didn't we consider buying a waffle iron at some point? I thought we did discuss it, but I don't remember actually buying one. Would it work for these?"

Mina squinted at her phone and nodded slowly.

"Looks like we'd have to find one with appropriate plates, but we— oh, this one— Well, better to buy it at home, to avoid converter problems, but yeah, there should be—" she trailed off, chewing another waffle.

Rose's slightly pinched face relaxed, even if the sudden sadness was still there.

"Com'ere, kitten," he pulled her into a hug. "You'll be OK. Don't worry. If you get home a week before Christmas, there should be enough time for everything - a bit of the market, a bit of house decoration, a bit of lazing about—"

"Yeah, but—"

"But you will see the Christmas Markets in Amsterdam," Mina pointed out. "You could go, take photos or even make a streaming and make us all wildly jealous."

Rose sniffed.

"OK. I will. And I will eat tons and tons of waffles, too. And cheese. Lots of cheese. And chips. And kapsalon!"

"Kapsalon...?"

"Chips, with kebap meat, veggies and fried cheese," Rose recited swiftly.

"Who invented such an abomination?"

"A hairdresser. Seriously, don't ask, but it's one of the things I really want to try!"

"Now that you mention it, we will definitely be buying cheese on our way back, hm, Mina?" William made a note on his phone. "A lot. Because once we get the clothes, the computer and everything unloaded, we are coming back with an empty car."

"You will pay some terrifying amount of tax and border fees for it, Dad."

He shrugged.

"Lovey, if I couldn't afford it, I wouldn't have considered it. It will still be fresher and better than buying it locally, and anyway probably cost less than we pay at home."

They all grimaced at the mention of prices of imported goods and Rose picked another honey waffle.

"These could be made even better if you put chocolate inside. Or toffee."

"It's probably a blasphemy, but I'd be willing to take the risk. Almond butter?"

"Dulce de leche."

"Might be too runny. But very fine jam..."

"I'm getting sugar spikes just listening to you two," he grumbled. "OK, put the rest into the box, finish your drinks and let's go. We'll get to the hotel, check in and go for a walk to use these calories up. Up you get."

####

The hotel he had made the booking in was in refurbished house of the typical for Amsterdam build - narrow front, but rather deep. There was a cosy courtyard and a temptingly looking restaurant, but for the moment, they just parked the car safely, brought their bags up to their rooms (both in a converted attic, with uncovered black roof beams adding to the ambiance) and refreshed themselves enough to be ready for a walk.

"We need to buy you a bike," he said as they crossed the first bridge.

"What? Why?"

"Rose," Mina sighed. "Look around. _Everyone_ is using bikes. And public transport, but mostly bikes."

"I suppose—"

Bike shop was added to their itinerary, but it was definitely not something they had to resolve immediately. In fact, it would be the best to buy a bike only once Rose had access to the flat, to avoid transporting it.

"So what now? It's Saturday, what can we see in Amsterdam on a Saturday?"

"Rijksmuseum?" Mina suggested. "Van Gogh museum?"

"Shopping?" Rose perked up. "Can we go and just have a look at the shops? I've already checked and you need to book a time to visit most of the museums, so we can book today and go tomorrow—"

Shopping they went.

Also, they found one particular museum, quite close to the hotel, that immediately attracted their attention and, considering it was furbished with a little shop, did quell their need for cheese shopping, at least temporarily.

"What are you doing, kitten?"

"Filling my Instagram with dairy," Mina mumbled. "Just to— Nevermind. Say 'cheese', Rose."

From there they made their way south, quickly finding yet another obstacle - a well stocked art supply store.

This time he just waited outside for his daughters to be done with selecting. Nobody came between a Darcy girl and a craft material she wanted (unless it was the other Darcy girl, or their mother).

Mina was carrying a backpack and he was starting to suspect it had some kind of double bottom leading to another dimension, considering how much she could put into it and still claim it was not heavy.

"Rose?"

Mina sounded way too innocent. Way.

"Hmm?"

"What does 'kralen' mean?"

"Beads. Why?"

"Give me just a minute."

And yes, his younger daughter did manage to find a beadshop within half an hour of leaving the hotel (or ten minutes of walking).

"She's been there for ages," Rose whispered after they watched the channel lazily in silence.

"It's not like we are in a hurry," he admonished. "We have three more days here."

"I—"

He brought her closer and kissed the top of her head.

"I know. It's scary and lonely and what not. And the first time away from Mina since they moved in, right?"

"Second, but then— first time for so long. It feels wrong."

"It's less than an hour and a half by plane from Manchester," Mina suddenly hugged them both. "I mean— In case you want me here, sometimes. And the tickets are dirt cheap. Thirty quid both ways."

That _was_ pretty cheap, indeed.

"How do you—?"

"I will miss you too."

They were both tearing up.

Or maybe all three of them.

####

They'd found a number of shops Rose took note of, including one that sold paper. Of many kinds, including - at least going by their display - calligraphy blocks and sketchbooks. But just paper.

"I'll need to know where to buy these. There will be a lot of technical drawing."

As they made their way towards the Museum Quarter, slowly following the Singelgracht channel as it went around the city centre, the evening was darkening around them and the lights on the bridges and houses fronting the waterways were coming on, giving the whole view a kind of an eerie, fairyland quality.

"I really wish I could see this all when it's decorated for Christmas," Mina sighed, aiming her phone to take another photo.

"If you come for a weekend at the beginning of December, it should be already set up. And I'm sure your mother would appreciate it, too. We could even come all four, make it Alex's first trip abroad."

"We'd have to be on guard for him trying to take a dip in all of these channels," Mina mused. "But yeah, Mom would love it."

"Mom already promised she will visit at the end of September, when I'm 'settled in'. You could come with her then, too?"

####

_Elizabeth was stretched out on their huge bed, looking still like a china doll, frowning at the ceiling._

_"Lizzy?"_

_She sighed._

_"I going to miss her."_

_Her voice was wet and hoarse._

_"Yeah, I know."_

_He sat at the edge of the bed and threaded his fingers through hers._

_"How are you so calm?" she asked finally. "I— I can't stop imagining that something will happen to her. Someone will hurt her, or even be nasty to her, and we won't be there—"_

_"Rose will be fine. She's been planning this for ages, she has been taking the language course, she knows the city layout by heart by now. And once you know that, it's easier to live somewhere."_

_She rolled to her side and curled up around his back, putting her head on his knee._

_"You think so?"_

_"She seems confident she'll do OK. Remember, Rose is—"_

_She nodded slowly._

_"More self-assured than Mina. I know. I'm still allowed to not like it."_

_"You are, definitely. But I'll be reminding you that it's something she's been planning for five years already."_

_A heavy sigh._

_"Maybe I'm focusing on her unnecessarily," she began, pausing to gather her thoughts. "But I feel like with worrying about Rose, I have a number of things I can do. Help her pack. Buy her the missing things. Find her headphones and cables and so on. Buy a safe power converter. You know, things I can identify and check off the list. While with Mina—"_

_They both sighed._

_"It's hard to even talk to her. She tries so desperately to look 'fine'."_

_He buried his fingers in her thick hair, massaging the tension at the base of her skull away._

_"We can only he there to catch her, if she needs us to. For now, she is keeping so terribly busy with the harvest and Rose and the house, she doesn't have time to think too much."_

_"Yeah, I've noticed the sudden uptick of things to do around the mansion."_

_He heard the smirk in her voice._

_"Well, I could have moved some things around in order to ensure she is out, talking to people and working. I can't help with the cause of this, but I can at least make sure her mind is taken off wallowing about it."_

_Elizabeth turned to look at him._

_"But if she— If she turns worse, if she can't keep up, because she— I don't think she would be becoming depressed, as such, because that's a much more serious condition, but even— We have to pay attention and make sure she is not overworking herself. Because she would, if she feels you need her help."_

_He chewed on his lip for a moment._

_"We'll be watching," he said finally. "Considering she isn't really talking about it to anyone — probably trying not to burden Rose right now — we need to be there for her."_

_"The delicate balance between just enough and not too much attention," she murmured. "If I could get my hands on that boy—"_

_They had finally told Elizabeth about Mina's and Teddy's breakup when she and Alex came home, and she was not happy. With many things — with the fact that she had not been told (but she relented, accepting that she had been stuck away from home for the following week anyway, for Alex's sake), with Teddy for being an obtuse idiot, and with Mina, for being self-sacrificing and prone to theatrics. That last part was forgotten the moment she saw Mina's drawn face at dinner on the day of her arrival, but Teddy remained still on the 'guilty' list._

_"It wasn't his fault, not fully," he reminded his wife. "They both—"_

_"He started it," she mumbled. "I've heard similar things from — people — everywhere—!"_

_He knew perfectly well she meant her father._

_Poor Teddy, to be classified in the same category as Thomas Bennet._

_"Teddy can still grow out of it," he pointed out. "I've remained an idiot in the matters of heart and proper communication until I was much older than him, and look how nicely I've turned out. He has been given some pointers by Rose and some questions he has to consider, so— Maybe he will get there, too. I don't necessarily mean, back together with Mina, since that would entirely depend on her wanting him back — but let them at least remain friendly—"_

_"We've been a bit older when we seriously quarrelled, weren't we."_

_"We also met and got together much later in life. Which only meant I was well-entrenched in my opinions by then. Which also means that there is hope for Teddy, if such an old dog like me could learn a new trick or two."_

_She sniffed again and pulled herself into a more comfortable position._

_"Everyone said that school romances like that don't last, but I had hope," she said finally. "We'll see if they can patch this up somehow. I don't even know what to do, how to help her."_

_"I think that, at least for the time being, the "keep her busy" scheme seems to be working fine. And I hope that the little trip I've planned will distract her a bit."_

_"A little trip? Does it have anything to do with the large cargo container strapped to the roof of the Jag?"_

_"Maybe. And maybe there is a ferry from Hull to Rotterdam, and then a scheme to get Rose's things there on our own, instead of having them delivered."_

_"Which is a very smart scheme. I wonder who thought it up."_

_"I did," he leaned over her and kissed her. "The only question now would be, do you want to come with us, or not?"_

_She scrunched her nose._

_"I'll have to think."_

####

In the end, she decided not to. She would stay with Alex, say good-bye to Rose at home and cry (at least, that was her plan) once they'd left. And it would leave more space in the car for any last-minute luggage Rose would pack. So, there they were. Amsterdam, late Saturday evening, strolling back to the hotel, this time passing through the centre of the city, watching the crowds around them, jumping away from under the swiftly moving bicycles and relaxing with every step.

"I think I will be quite fine with living here," Rose said as they crossed the last bridge towards their hotel. "It will be good, Mina. It's a nice city and—"

They were hugging, again, with Mina sobbing something that sounded very much like "so far!"

"You said yourself, the plane is less than an hour and a half," he pointed out gently. "And you can definitely come here with your Mom in a month. I'll get you to Manchester on Friday afternoon and fetch you back on Sunday."

Mina took a wet and slightly shuddering breath and nodded.

####

The dinner was subdued, but not weepy or overly emotional, since both of his daughters seemed determined to cheer the other one up. Still, it seemed like the next two days would be oscillating between the delight with the trip and the sorrow as to the cause of the trip.

It was good to have Mina there, distracting Rose a bit, and Rose distracting Mina. Maybe, just maybe, they'd transition through that tumultuous period to calmer waters. After all, Rose would not be back home until Christmas at least, what with the need to acclimatise in the new place, busy schedule and additional language courses, so it would be up to them to visit _her_. She'd need all the support and stability she could get right then and there.

"So, what do we want to see tomorrow?"

"We have Rijksmuseum booked for eleven," Rose swiped across her phone. "And Van Gogh museum is just directly next to it, or at least nearby. Then we can just walk through some parts we hadn't seen today."

"And buy fridge magnets."

They both turned to Mina.

"What? Fridge magnets. You know, pictures with a magnet behind them? Stick them on the fridge— door—? What?"

"You've never expressed a need to have fridge magnets."

"Because there weren't any interesting ones, and here I've already seen some? And I definitely want a set of blocks or a jigsaw puzzle or whatever that will show local buildings."

"Sure. Monday will be the shopping day then. Including toy shops. We definitely need something for Alex."

"A second wave of birthday presents."

"Not like he will run out of space any time soon."

That was the pure truth. Since Georgiana and Lucy had moved in together - into a large loft flat in Lambton - Alex had been moved to Georgiana's old room once he became more self-reliant in his sleeping habits (not that he didn't find his way to his parents' or one of his sisters' rooms in the middle of the night, should something untoward happen and wake him up) and they had all been filling that space with carefully-chosen books, crocheted and knitted soft animals, wooden train tracks, sensory toys of various kinds and sports equipment. There were containers of LEGO blocks (and other kinds, compatible or not), pastels, crayons and paints and everything else the aunt team made of teachers (Lucy and Jane), speech therapists (Susan Yang), art enthusiasts (Mary and Georgiana) and technical menaces (Kitty) could think of.

Lydia mostly bought him clothes, thankfully.

"I'll take some photos and maybe find that website where you can order a jigsaw puzzle made of your own images. This way I'll be sure I have exactly the kinds of pictures I want."

Rose's eyes widened at the thought.

"We could do it with December photos! That would be pretty spectacular."

"And send it to Jackie and the others, instead of just simple primitive postcards," Mina added quickly.

"Let's first get through tomorrow and having Rose moved in, then you can start expanding your puzzle plans. Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh's museum and...?"

Rose pulled up the itinerary she had cobbled together and they all crowded in one corner, happily suggesting and rejecting options.

####

It was with much less joviality and much emptier car that they took to the road on Tuesday, heading to Rotterdam (this time, through Gouda). The backseat was full of boxes, Mina's backpack was bulging with art and craft supplies, including yarn from the shop that they had just wandered by on their last walk about the city, that very morning. And from the one two bridges (or three hundred metres) from their hotel. And— And who knew what else.

She didn't seem _happier_ , and he hadn't expected it — retail therapy was not a solution for heartbreak — but she seemed a bit more mellow. Maybe moving Rose's things in and organising the kitchen and the computer setup had put her in a better mood. Or maybe it was the shopping bag full of cocoa and chocolate stuck between the cheeses and the bag of toys. He wouldn't speculate. Definitely the baking recipe book had given both girls some inspiration and caused Mina to muse on the potential baking she could do with Elizabeth (and caused another flood of tears on Rose's side when she thought about the Christmas Market preparations she was going to miss).

It could have also been the fat "Dutch knitting" book. Why not. He wasn't sure how that differed from any other knitting, but if she and Elizabeth liked it, well, there was enough free space in the car to buy out a whole bookshop of craft textbooks.

"We still have three hours until boarding. We could park here and go for a walk, what do you think?"

The area by the port was not exactly exciting, but the trees gave some shade and there was a cluster of wind turbines visible at the end of the street, so they walked in silence, turning here and there, until they ended up in front of a small pub and Mina suddenly noticed she was actually hungry after all.

They sat outside, watching yet another cluster of turbines, eating their toast and coffee and not really talking.

"I know—" he said haltingly. "I know it's hard for you to just tell us stuff. You want to make sure Elizabeth doesn't worry. And it's probably a challenge to talk boys to your father. But— if you need someone to just listen—"

Mina nodded jerkily.

He didn't really have much hope she'd talk.

But he needed to make sure she knew she _could_.

####

"What have you— William Darcy, are you _crazy_? How did you— where will we put all of this?"

"Basement storage. Or attic, depending on what exactly you mean. And your workroom, once you see what that one had bought," he shoved Mina forward. "I'm pretty sure there is enough yarn there for two full sheep."

"Dad!"

"OK, a single sheep. But a big one."

"Come on, kitten, don't let— seriously, this is a big backpack. What were you doing for four days there, only shopping?"

"Almost? Kind of? Also, we have something for Alex—"

Her brother materialised at her knees immediately, stretching his hands in an "up" signal.

"Words first."

He scrunched his nose and pursed his lips.

"Nu-uh. Say 'up' and we'll have a look at the bag of wonders and pick a gift."

"Up!"

"See, proper incentive is the key."

"That's bribery, Mina!"

"Every prize for good behaviour is bribery. And since Alex communicated, we can pick a box—" Mina scooped the boy up onto her hip and reached into the car for the box that was already on the top of a Santa-sized bag of gifts they had purchased. "See? A set of blocks to build a house. What colour are the walls?"

"...ite."

"Full word."

"White."

"Very well. Come on, kid, let's see how big we can build it..."

Elizabeth sighed, watching the children disappear in the house.

"How is she?"

William hugged her closer and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Not good. Not bad either, just— not happy. But they cried over a lot of stuff with Rose, and they made plans for Mina to visit, so— She isn't in any kind of hopeless state."

"I hate this. I can't tell her it will get better, because that's up to her and Teddy, so—"

"So we need to give her space, things to do and offer to hear her out, if she needs it."

"No pushing."

"No pushing. And don't tell Richard."

"Ugh. No, better not. Now, what exactly were you thinking, William?"

"It's just cheese. And it was fun watching Mina make faces when she tasted samples."

"Your reasoning is beyond me. Now fess up, what _else_ have you bought?"

"Whatever Mina wanted, more or less. Be warned, she went crazy in a bead shop. And two yarn shops. We also bought a bike for Rose. And a microwave oven, since the one in the flat looked like it was made thirty years ago. A few bits of crockery, random kitchen stuff and a huge load of grocery shopping, including heavier stuff, so Rose wouldn't have to carry it on the bike. Oh, and we signed up for landline and internet, since the owner admitted she knew nothing about it and would rather have us pick the service provider, so we set Mina on the task."

"And all that in one business day? That's a lot."

"We were effective, my dear. And we finished some of this yesterday morning, just before leaving. Mostly setting up all the connections to make sure Rose has all she needs to work online."

His wife cuddled closer and sighed.

"I was sorry that I didn't go with you, but then I'd have cried like a baby. I did cry like a baby, Alex was actually worried. He slept in our bed for all these nights, so don't be surprised if he drops by tonight."

"I am surprised _I_ didn't cry like a baby," he sighed. "But they were both just oscillating from weepy to 'see, a gondola!' and it took a lot of focus to keep up with them. I suppose you can expect a call from Rose—"

"She called yesterday evening already. We had a little cry together on the phone."

"Oh dear."

"Shush. I'm allowed to."

"I suppose you are."

She sighed and relaxed in his hold.

"How is Alex taking it?"

"For now, I think he hasn't really understood yet that Rose will be gone for a longer period. But Susan warned me that he may turn nonverbal, so we should watch for this and help him."

"Always something to do in this family."

"Never a dull moment."

####


End file.
